Further Health Bill amendments to include new 'failure' rules

Ministers will table a new set of amendments to the Health Bill next week, including setting out the failure regime for care providers.

The bill is scheduled to reach the report stage in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Full details on the amendments are not yet available, but they are expected to be in line with the Department of Health’s June response to the NHS Future Forum report. They will cover subjects including information and the “continuity of service” regime for providers.

Under the original proposals essential services such as maternity or accident and emergency provision would have been “designated”, meaning they would be protected from closure if a provider “failed”.

It is expected the bill will be amended so the services which must be retained will be decided locally by commissioners in consultation with local health and wellbeing boards. This would only take place when a provider was in danger of closure.

Further amendments proposing a requirement to offer independent counselling to women seeking an abortion are planned by a group of backbenchers led by Conservative Nadine Dorries and Labour’s Frank Field.

The amendments to be debated in the Commons will be decided by the speaker.

There will also be a set of technical amendments renaming “commissioning consortia” as “clinical commissioning groups”.